For the past year, there have been numerous reports that ISIS have been transporting the oil they have stolen from Iraq and Syria, to Turkey and this has been greatly facilitated by the Turkish state at the highest levels. It is widely known the oil was being sold and exported by BMZ Ltd owned by Bilal Erdogan, President Erodgan's son. It is extremely unlikely that they are doing this for nothing and tens of millions have probably been siphoned off by the Erdogan family and other key officials and the Turkish economy has no doubt benefitted from an injection of cheap stolen oil sold below world market rates. The Russian Defense Ministry on Dec 2nd revealed the vast scale of the oil smuggling operation which somehow was missed by the NATO/US in the past 2 years.

In the last two months, the dramatic and sad photographs of 3 year old Aylan Kurdi, and his brother lying dead on the shores on a beach in Turkey have finally opened the curtain very slightly on the horrors and terror of war in Syria. It is hard to conceive the trauma of this family first seeing one of their other brothers beheaded by ISIS jihadists, then to flee and then for this man's wife and two remaining young children to drown in the sea whilst attempting to escape. If you were to listen to politicans from the UK all the way up to the present prime minister, you would think they were doing this so they could scab off the social welfare but as anyone knows, this was the act of a family desperate to flee the terror in their home country and get to safety at all costs. However Aylan Kurdi and his brother and mother aren't the only ones to drown or being killed in war, there are tens of thousands dead.

SUMMARY: I arrived in Ennis without pen or notebook to support the action of Margaretta D'Arcy and Niall Farrell who protested on the runway of Shannon against the US military use of the airport. The following is a colour story of happenings on the day relying on memory only. I hope that someone else may provide a fuller report and my apologies for any errors in this report which are entirely my responsibility.

Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway but NOT for bankrupting the country and saddling it with billions of debt, NOT for corruption and other white collar crime, but for the crime of having a conscience and actually caring about her fellow human beings. That's correct. In this country you can destroy it in all sorts of ways and you will be fine as no banker, politician, developer, bond holder or other types of people who have been involved in economically destroying this country, and causing widespread austerity, hardship and misery which in itself has led to many suicides and so forth. None of these people have come before the courts or been jailed. However for the really serious crimes of still having your humanity at 79 and doing something about it instead of shutting up and doing nothing, for these crimes, the state will bring the full force of the law against you and will always find some narrow argument to shut out the wider context of your action, to convict you and get you quickly behind bar. In that way the state quickly ensures that this dangerous contagion doesn't spread and it serves as a lesson to all as to what might happen to them.

Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway.

Today the mainstream media are claiming that there has been a chemical attack by the Syrian government near Damascus even whilst an UN inspection team arrives. The reports have been conflicting with the initial reports claiming 280 victims and then later up-ing it to over 1,300 killed.

However, the claims are predominantly coming from the so called Free Syrian Army who are backed and funded by some of the despotic Gulf States, as well as Saudi Arabia and by the Western powers principally France, USA and UK. This same group is made up mercenaries of all kinds including members of Al Qaeda who want to turn the country backwards and bring in Sharia Law and just back in May 2013 the UN accused the Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons.

What is most telling though is that it makes absolutely no sense for the Syrian government to do this. In recent months they have retaken areas held by rebels and seem to have repelled several attack campaigns in the past two year. And France in particular as well as the other powers have been consistently in the last year being trying to throw the mud of chemical weapons and then chemical weapon attacks in a clear effort to force public opinion to back no-fly zones and from there total demolition of the country and invasion followed later by a pliant regime. The end game is to clear the way for an attack on Iran which the crazies have been pushing hard for many years.

On 24 May 2017, two peace activists Dave Donnellan and Colm Roddy were sent for jury trial because the District Court judge finally refused to accept jurisdiction. The judge said the alleged criminal damage newly set at €3,500 was so large as to make it a serious charge.

Celebrating 13 years! Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual international series of events (including rallies, lectures, performances, films, multimedia displays and protest actions) held in cities and campuses across the globe.

Each year, Israeli Apartheid Week takes place across more than 150 universities and cities. It aims to raise awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project and apartheid policies over the Palestinian people. IAW aims to raise awareness about Israel’s apartheid policies towards the Palestinians and to build support for the growing campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Please join us in making the the 13th Israeli Apartheid Week one of the biggest yet.

Both men were arrested at Shannon Airport on May 25th, after entering the airfield, painting anti war markings & slogans on the runway, and then making their way over to a USAF C21 jet, (a 2nd military aircraft, an unmarked special forces C32B had already taken off before the presence of the men was detected by the Army sentries). The men were inside the perimeter walking around with a very large tricolour flag for 40 minutes before they were spotted by the Irish Army, approaching the US Airforce Jet.
They were held for over 24 hours, then brought to Gort where the Judge granted a state application for their bail conditions to ban them from entering County Clare other than for court related matters.
Yesterday they were in Ennis District Court, where they applied for disclosure (copies of statements and other evidence) and a variation on their bail conditions.

100 years ago, if a Dublin Castle tout had entered the Connolly Books building on Essex Street, Temple Bar, he would have been quids in. Sitting hugger mugger around a huge table in the centre of the room are more than 20 of the most subversive characters in Ireland, spouting socialist verse and preaching revolution and rebellion. They include communists, trotskyists, anarchists, republicans, trade unionists, anti-austerity activists, pacifists, militant feminists, internationalists, environmentalists, ex political prisoners, independent TDs, writers, poets, singers, artists, and actors. They have banded together in one bold adventure: to read, over a series of lunchtimes, the entire, epic, 24-hour Non Stop Connolly Show.

In Dublin’s Temple Bar, within gunshot of the General Post Office, a diverse band of Irish citizen actors are planning to strike a blow against war and imperialism and for Irish freedom. This is not a costumed re-enactment of the 1916 Easter Rising but an act of contemporary revolutionary theatre, where the audience for the epic 1970s play the Non Stop Connolly Show, by Margaretta D’Arcy and John Arden, become the cast. Each lunchtime between 27 April and 12 May, volunteers muster at Connolly Books to take reading parts in the play which covers the life, struggles and death of James Connolly. Not only has the fourth wall been broken down, but the spirit of text has spurred solidarity action by the players in support of Maura Harrington, jailed in Mountjoy on Friday for her opposition to Shell’s rape of the the West of Ireland countryside.

100 years after reducing downtown Dublin to rubble the British Navy returned during last week's
Easter 1916 commemorations. Accompanied by U.S. warships, they docked in Dublin as part of the NATO
fleet presently waging wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Ireland is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of its Revolution that partially freed it from British rule. But the nation is still one of many around the globe that has yet to complete its “Unfinished Revolution,” because that phase of the struggle ended with its northeastern region partitioned in the 1920s into a new entity, “Northern Ireland,” so that places like Strabane still remain under British domination and occupation to this day.

Thankfully, before it's too late, I realized the truth; that is, anything which is organized by the Malaysia's Opposition ([especially by racist and fascist anti-Indigenous/anti-Muslim party of DAP (Democratic Action Party – ('democratic', my foot) - suspected to receive much hidden donation from ISrael, to the total of US 300 million and training from Mossad, through Singapore-based account] including under the guise of the so-called Human Rights March .

Shannonwatch have recorded an unusual number of US military aircraft at and overflying Shannon Airport since June 4th. This time period coincides with the preparations for NATO Anaconda-2016 military exercises in Poland which are being conducted from June 7th to 17th. (See list below)

The 10-day military exercise [1], involves 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries. The Guardian [2] described it as follows "The largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war has started in Poland, as Nato and partner countries seek to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russia's assertiveness and actions". The UK Independent [3] said it was one of the biggest exercises on NATO's eastern flank since the end of the Cold War, and was a move likely to put further strain on the already-tense relations between the Kremlin and the West

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) has recently started to publish a Monthly Report on Munitions of War Exemptions issued under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order, 1973 on its website. It can be be accessed via the following link http://www.dttas.ie/aviation/publications/english/stati...s-war.

In reply to a parliamentary question from Clare Daly TD, the Minister for Transport Shane Ross TD provided details of permits granted to take munitions fo war through Irish airports and airspace over the period 1 Jan 2017 to 31 May 2017.

On Wednesday June 1st a US Air Force Dornier C-146A Wolfhound, 11-3075, sat on the tarmac at Shannon Airport being watched carefully by an Irish army patrol. It had come from Grand Canaria - Las Palmas in Spain, and on Thursday it travelled on to St John's Newfoundland. Its call sign was REACH1042.

The aircraft is operated by the US Air Force 524th Special Operations Squadron which is part of the 27th Special Operations Wing. This Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) unit flies a fleet of non-standard transport aircraft in support of special operations. Their missions, which are typically covert, include insertion, extraction and resupply of special operations forces.

To mark Nakba Day 2016 the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is honoured to present a speaking tour with Lubna Shomali and Nidal Al-Azzah from BADIL, Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights.

Shannonwatch and Veterans for Peace member Edward Horgan will appear in Ennis District Court tomorrow, Friday April 15th, to answer a charge that he entered a part of Shannon Airport to which persons were not permitted, contrary to airport byelaws. Dr Horgan was attempting to do what the authorities have repeatedly refused to do, which is to inspect US military aircraft in order to establish if they were in breach of international laws at Shannon.

On April 18th 2015, Dr Horgan was on his way to a peace conference in London when he saw four US Hercules C-130 jets lined up just beyond the Aer Lingus plane he was about to board. Knowing that the Gardaí were almost certainly not going to search them or to inform the public of the nature of these plane's reasons for being at Shannon, he felt compelled to search them.